Mouez Hassen, a goalkeeper for the Tunisian football team appeared to feign injury at sundown so that his teammates could break their Ramadan fast during games.
Footage of the incident has been shared by a Tunisian football fan account.
🎥 : Mouez Hassen (@hassen_mouez) touché lors d’un contact aérien avec un joueur turc,les Aigles de Carthage en profitent pour romprent le jeûne avec quelques barres énergétiques,des dattes et de l’eau🥛🍪
#Ramadan #Iftar #TUNTUR 🇹🇳🇹🇷(2-2)@LBDFootball @tunisiefootball pic.twitter.com/iGYLlijTlm
— Les Aigles de Carthage 🌐 (@LADC_Officiel) June 3, 2018
The 23-year-old keeper spotted going down on the pitch with an ‘injury’ not once – but twice during the friendly matches against Portugal and Turkey, reported BBC.
On two separate occasions, his ‘injury’ coincided with the time of sunset, which is when the Ramzan fasting ends.
As the goalie lay on the field to receive medical treatment, his teammates rushed to the sidelines and were seen snacking on dates and drinking water.
Fun fact:
Tunisian National team has played the last two friendlies while fasting. So, whenever the time comes to break Fast. The players have an agreement that the GK would go down so they can get a moment to drink some water and get something to eat 😂😂#Ramadan #tunisia pic.twitter.com/4Rgz380ukW— Souhail Khmira (@SKhmira) June 2, 2018
The goalkeeper has since been teased on Twitter, including by French professional Chaker Alhadhur, who joked: ‘It’s all right now, we know you were pretending.’
@hassen_mouez cest bon maintenant on sait que tu fais semblant 😭😂😂👌🏾 https://t.co/6YE5hrlLnA
— Chaker Alhadhur (@Chakeralh24) June 3, 2018
Replying to Alhadhur tweet, a Hassen wrote: ‘I was injured bruv’ followed by laughing emojis.
After getting food and water, his re-energised team staged a comeback and that match also finished 2-2.